In The Kite Runner, what would be some good quotes on redemption?
I'm doing a...

I'm doing a Literary Analysis on The Kite Runner. I decided to do it on the theme of redemption. I'm thinking of focusing on Amir's quest for redemption. However, I need quotes. Anyone know good quotes about redemption in the book?

Well, you have certainly picked a vital theme that is important to understand the novel, and in particular, the character of Amir. The whole novel, in a sense, marks his journey from his foolish childhood where he commits a terrible mistake that goes on to haunt him for the rest of his life, to him attempting to right that mistake and redeeming himself.

For me, a key part of the novel to focus on is actually the end, when we are told of Amir and Sohrab and their success in the Kite Flying competition they take part in. This echo of the past is of course intentional, and as Amir runs to get the kite, he takes on the role of Hassan in his service to Sohrab and expresses his desire of being to Sohrab was Hassan was to him. Note how this parallel is reinforced by what Amir says to Sohrab:

"For you, a thousand times over," I heard myself say.

This is of course another intentional echo of the past, as these are the words that Hassan used to describe his devotion to Amir. Note how Amir responds to the faint smile of Sohrab:

It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything all right. It didn't make anything all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird's flight.

But I'll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting.

The novel ends with the "first flake melting" that allows Amir to gain the redemption he so desperately craves. Although he has taken Sohrab to the United States, it is only when he is able to begin to breakthrough to him emotionally and build a relationship with him that he is able to gain that redemption.

"Earlier that morning, when I was certain no one was looking, I did something I had done twenty-six years earlier: I planted a fistful of crumpled money under a mattress." (242)

"It was only a smile, nothing more. It didn't make everything all right. It didn't make anything all right. Only a smile. A tiny thing. A leaf in the woods, shaking in the wake of a startled bird's flight. But I'll take it. With open arms. Because when spring comes, it melts the snow one flake at a time, and maybe I just witnessed the first flake melting." (371)